Virginia Tech

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, better known as Virginia Tech, is a public land-grant university with a main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia

Virginia Tech has educational facilities in six regions statewide, and a study-abroad site in Switzerland. The commonwealth’s third-largest university and a leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 225 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to some 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $454 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors serves as the university’s governing body. The board comprises 13 members who are appointed by the governor of Virginia. Serving as ex-officio, non-voting representatives are the president of the state Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the presidents of the university’s faculty senate and staff senate; and an undergraduate student and a graduate student selected through a competitive review process.

In the U.S. News & World Report ’​s 2015 Best Colleges, Virginia Tech ranked 71st among national universities and 27th among public. Virginia Tech is among three public universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia to rank among the top 25, with the University of Virginia tying at No. 2 with the University of California, Los Angeles; and the College of William & Mary at No. 6. Other than California, Virginia is the only state with three or more schools in the Top 25 Public Universities.

The College of Engineering undergraduate program was ranked 15th in the nation among all accredited engineering schools that offer doctorates, and sixth among engineering schools at U.S. public universities, tying with Texas A&M University. Several Virginia Tech undergraduate engineering specialties ranked among the top 20 of their respective peer programs: aerospace and ocean engineering, 14th; civil engineering, 10th; electrical and computer engineering, 15th; engineering science and mechanics, eighth; environmental engineering, 11th; industrial and systems engineering, eighth; mechanical engineering, 14th; biological systems engineering, 11th; and chemical engineering, 20th.

U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Graduate Schools 2015 ranked the College of Engineering 21st among the nation’s best engineering schools for graduate studies. The ranking is a move up three places from 24th, where the college stood for three consecutive years. Ranked among public universities, the College of Engineering’s graduate program – which has more than 2,000 students – ranks 10th in the nation. It is the highest-ranked engineering school in Virginia.

The Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences graduate and undergraduate program are considered among the best in the U.S. U.S. News & World Report (2014) ranked biological systems engineering 11th in the nation. In 2009, the National Science Foundation ranked Virginia Tech No. 5 in the country for agricultural research expenditures, much of which originated from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.